THE SOURCES OF PUBLIC AUTHORITY AND POLITICAL POWER
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Who has political power?
Who has the authority to rule?
Different countries answer these questions in different ways,
but they all answer them in one way or another.
Countries that have no clear answers often suffer from lack of
political legitimacy - or the right to rule, as
determined by their own citizens.
- Legitimacy may be secured in a number of ways, using sources such as social compacts, constitutions, and ideologies.
- Historical evolution of political traditions shape a countryís concept of who has the authority to rule and its definition of legitimate political power. This evolution may be gradual or forced, long or relatively brief, and the relative importance of tradition varies from country to country.
- Political culture refers to the collection of political beliefs, values, practices, and institutions that the government is based on. For example, if a society values individualism, the government will generally reflect this value in the way that it is structured and in the way that it operates. If the government does not reflect basic political values of a people, it will have difficulty remaining viable.
Read how the Philippine President recently secured his government in "Philippine Supreme Court Upholds Legitimacy of Arroyo Government." After reading the article, how secure do you think the government is?
According to "Turkey's Polarised Political Culture," what problems exist within Turkey's political culture?
